Calendar

THE BLESSING OF THE HOME (13)
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 17
Ruth 4:11-22

1 Samuel 1:1-10

 

“Even a child is

known by his doings…”

 

THE BLESSING OF THE HOME (13)
 
Relationships can be a great source of joy, or pain, in life. In the relationship Naomi and Ruth had, they experienced a fair share of both, but they had gone through them all. They had shared the sorrow of losing their loved ones, the difficulty of a widow’s life, the toil of hard work to get food on the table, etc. Relationships are also defined by the sum of the events, both good and bad, in life. Of the relationships people may have, the mother-in-law to daughter-in-law relationship is one that many a time is difficult to maintain.
 
“…thy daughter in law, which loveth thee, which is better to thee than seven sons, hath born him” (Ruth 4:15). The women in their visit comforted Naomi with their assessment and view of the relationship between her and her daughter-in-law. The assessment was one that was aimed to comfort and encourage Naomi and befitted the joyous occasion. They told her not only of the visible love between them, but also of the value of Ruth in the phrase “better… than seven sons.”
 
A similar phrase was used by Elkanah as he sought to comfort his wife Hannah at a most trying and tormenting period. Hannah’s situation was a difficult one as Elkanah’s attempts to honour her by giving her a worthy portion as they went to sacrifice at Shiloh, probably further fuelled Peninah’s taunts that tormented Hannah such that she could not even eat. As Elkanah sought to know what was grieving his wife, he assured her of his love and comforted her with the question “am not I better to thee than ten sons?” (1 Sam 1:8). One can only imagine the pain, grief and stress that Hannah went through in that relationship, especially considering the place childbearing was given in that society, and the view of childlessness. It may seem to have some parallels with the state of Naomi and Ruth as two widows were bereft of their husbands and with no children. Children were compared in the Psalms to arrows in the hand of a mighty man. Even in her song, Hannah said, “the barren hath born seven” when she had but one son.
 
THOUGHT: (Read 1 John 4:8.)

PRAYER: (Read Psalm 119:76.)

Search